Law Practice Management

The Tennessee Bar Association has a variety of resources and practical information on law office management issues available to help members better serve clients and practice more efficiently and effectively.

Below you will find the Practice Management Advisor Pipes Feed, brought to you by the Law Office Technology & Management Section of the Tennessee Bar Association. "PMA Pipes" is an RSS newsfeed that was designed by the ABA's Legal Technology Resource Center. It combines posts from the blogs of Practice Management Advisors from across the United States, as well as the ABA's Site-tation blog, into one convenient location. The blogs brought to you by this feed include: Law Practice Matters, Reid My Blog, Law Practice Tips, Law Practice Advisor, The Last Word, Thoughtful Legal Management, and Compujurist, among others.

Practice Management Advisor Pipes Feed

[Compujurist] In Memory of Ross Kodner, A Legal Technology Pioneer

My friend Ross Kodner passed away at the much too young age of 52 on July 29, 2013. I had planned on posting a memorial to him much earlier but the Milwaukee Bar Association asked if I would pen a memorial for Ross to appear in their October 1, 2013 newsletter. I didn't think it was appropriate to post my memorial here before the MBA published so I held off until today.

Yes, I was one of the many Apple fanatics that downloaded iOS 7 on all my devices the day it was released. Chances are that, since you are reading this, you too have downloaded iOS 7. After my update to iOS 7 was complete, it was as if I had a brand new device in my hands. At first I was skeptical of the new thin fonts and candy color scheme, but the style soon grew on me (maybe those florescent colors are reminiscent of my childhood; I’m a product of the ‘80s) and now I can hardly recall...

We had a sellout crowd last week for our Tech Tuesday Paperless Office and E-filing training program. Steve Best of Affinity Consulting and Jody Stewart and Jason Hodges from the Administrative Office of Courts put on a great program especially designed to help lawyers better adapt their offices to the realities of paperless files and […]

The month of August saw a lower number of new fraud posts (11) though we received more emails than in August (297, up from 209). Many lawyers were reporting the same few frauds, which seemed to have a wider reach than normal.
65% of the emails this month came from the U.S., 27% from Ontario, 2% from elsewhere in Canada and 6% from overseas. Here is the latest that map showing where emails to ‘fraudinfo@lawpro.ca’ orginated. (click to enlarge)
Here are the email fraud posts we did...

Two Ontario lawyers have notified us that they received an email from the purported Viktor Gustaf of Aptilo Networks AB looking to retain them with regards to a commercial debt collection.
This is a classic bad cheque scam that presents as legal matter requiring the assistance of a lawyer. In this scam lawyers will be duped into wiring real funds from their trust accounts after depositing a fake cheque received as payment from the debtor (who is part of the fraud). See our Confirmed Fraud Page...

[Avoid a Claim] Commercial debt collection using the name Christian Hartmann

Two Ontario lawyers have notified us that they received an email from the purported Christian Hartmann looking to retain them with regards to a commercial debt collection.
This is a classic bad cheque scam that presents as legal matter requiring the assistance of a lawyer. In this scam lawyers will be duped into wiring real funds from their trust accounts after depositing a fake cheque received as payment from the debtor (who is part of the fraud). See our Confirmed Fraud Page for more of an...

This article appeared in the September 2013 issue of TitleNews.
Cyber Criminals Steal More Than $1.5 million from California Escrow Company.
California-based Efficient Services Escrow Group was shut down by the state after cyber criminals stole more than $1.5 million from the firm's trust account and wired the money to China and Russia.
In a petition filed in Orange County Superior Court, the California Department of Corporations (DOC) said the thieves first wired $432,215 to an account...

Regardless of its size, location, or type of practice, every law firm needs sound, workable financial management practices to weather the bad times, and prosper during the good. Unfortunately, most firms can’t afford a highly skilled Chief Financial Officer to handle their financial affairs, yet they need to develop a well-organized and well-executed financial plan to reach their financial goals and objectives. This book will help firms in this effort.
This hands-on, how-to book will...

A few days ago I posted about the ethical propriety of using free Gmail for confidential legal communications. Another somewhat unsettled issue is the ethical propriety of a lawyer using a public WiFi network at her favorite Starbucks to facilitate confidential legal work, especially given the ability of the technologically skilled to intercept and read […]

[Avoid a Claim] Business debt collection scam using the name Dionne Edwards

Two Ontario lawyers notified us that they received an email from the purported Dionne Edwards looking to retain them with regards to a breach of a business loan agreement.
This is a classic bad cheque scam that presents as legal matter requiring the assistance of a lawyer. In this scam lawyers will be duped into wiring real funds from their trust accounts after depositing a fake cheque received as payment from the debtor (who is part of the fraud). See our Confirmed Fraud Page for more of an...

Law Practice Management Tips

TBA Resource Center

Visit the Tennessee Bar Center at 221 Fourth Ave. North, Suite 400 in Nashville, and check out any of the many publications about law office management that are available. Obtain forms, checklists and information about how to set up your practice. Free to TBA members.